In Duke’s loss at Charlotte, missed opportunities loomed large for the Blue Devils
Any hope Duke had of erasing last season’s football struggles disappeared with a misplay here and a missed opportunity there on Friday night.
As with any tightly contested game, Charlotte’s 31-28 win over the Blue Devils could have been reversed to a Duke win if any number of plays were executed differently.
Quarterback Gunnar Holmberg’s fumble into the end zone as he ran the ball 2 yards from the goal line and a possible touchdown comes to mind. So, too, does wide receiver Jarrett Garner’s dropped ball on a would-be touchdown pass as he was wide open behind the Charlotte defense.
“Offensively the opportunities were there to score points throughout the game,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. “And we didn’t take advantage of those opportunities.”
Duke’s defense had a chance for an early interception when a Charlotte pass was tipped on third down. Instead, 49ers receiver Cameron Dollar secured the ball and gained enough for a first down. The next play, Charlotte scored on a 56-yard touchdown pass.
“Six plays defensively gave up 218 yards,” Cutcliffe said. “Some of them were where we could have gotten off the field.”
But the Blue Devils didn’t. They didn’t capitalize on chances to score. They struggled to stop Charlotte on third downs and watched the 49ers drive for two late fourth-quarter touchdowns that spelled the difference in the outcome.
So Duke, after going 5-7 and 2-9 the past two seasons, finds itself 0-1 heading into Friday night’s game with N.C. A&T at Wallace Wade Stadium.
A program that entered the season having lost 16 of its previous 23 games certainly could have used a better season-opening performance.
Cutcliffe admitted the team should have been prepared better to execute the plays available in the Charlotte game that could have netted a win.
“What I’m looking at are opportunities where the head football coach has to have a team prepared better for and I mean that wholeheartedly,” Cutcliffe said. “I think we can have a good football team. You can’t think it, though. You have to be one.”
He took blame for Holmberg’s third-quarter fumble, which occurred on the Blue Devils’ first possession of the second half. Charlotte led 17-14 and Holmberg had led Duke from its own 19 to the Charlotte 4.
As Holmberg ran the ball on a 2nd-and-goal play, he gained two yards but lost the ball when hit by a Charlotte defender. The ball rolled into the end zone where Charlotte cornerback Valerian Agbaw recovered.
“I’ll take credit for the fumble,” said Cutcliffe, who said he could hear the voice of the late Tennessee coach Johnny Majors in his mind on that play.
“He was one of the best at (coaching) that as soon as you feel anything near the goal line in traffic, you get your other hand on the ball to secure it. I hadn’t coached that well enough. I told the whole team that on Saturday and I told Gunnar that as well. That’s my responsibility.”
Duke’s only other turnover in the game came on the final play when the Blue Devils, in desperation, attempted multiple laterals in a last-ditch attempt to score and win after time expired.
So, given Duke had 39 turnovers in 11 games last season, the Charlotte game was a massive improvement on that front.
Still, that one turnover was costly enough that a touchdown, rather than a fumble on that play, could have won the game for Duke. Considering the Blue Devils amassed 601 yards of offense, with running back Mataeo Durant rushing for a school-record 255 yards with three touchdowns, it’s hard to find too much fault with the offense.
The Blue Devils defense, though, has much more room for improvement due to its failure to stop Charlotte on those two fourth-quarter scoring drives.
“With tackling,” Cutcliffe said, “I thought the biggest issue was we left our feet. We didn’t run through people.”
He also sounded a warning to his players on that side of the ball.
“If you don’t tackle well, somebody else will,” Cutcliffe said. “That’s where we are right now.”
This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 6:20 AM.